


With Great Power

by crux_f



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Other cast members are mentioned, Overwhelmed, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route - "I want to stay with you.", dear gods please this child needs a hug, implied suicidal thoughts, please be nice this is my first work on here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:41:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23993941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crux_f/pseuds/crux_f
Summary: Frisk is having trouble sleeping, and goes downstairs for a mug of warm milk. But their thoughts swirl in on them, unwanted.
Relationships: only the sweet love of friendship
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	With Great Power

Frisk couldn't sleep.

They turned over again beneath the bedspread- it was in a rough orange and blue pattern with bones across it, a gift from Papyrus- and opened their eyes once more, brown furrowed in frustration.

They glanced at the clock, blinking furiously.

2:54 AM.

One deep breath. Then two.

Nightmares were nothing new for Frisk. They had always possessed an active imagination, and their journey through the underground had left its own scars upon their mind. For all the joys that day had given them- only _a single day,_ and yet years it seemed, with how long it had lasted- they had still undergone things that most adults could not survive.

Not that they _had_ survived all of them, of course.

Swiveling their legs to the face the edge of their bed, they slipped from the edge directly into their fluffy woolen slippers. sans had given them this pair for their birthday that year, due to how often they had stolen his.

There was no way they were going to sleep for at least a few hours.

Pausing for a moment, Frisk extended a mental limb within their own mind, to check on their silent passenger. Somehow, it seemed, they had already fallen asleep. Frisk still wasn't entirely clear on how that worked exactly, but it wasn't like they had an expert to ask or anything.

Still, it seemed best to let them get their rest.

Frisk shuffled as quietly as possible out of their room, taking extra care to leave the door ajar so as not to make any unnecessary noise, and downstairs to the kitchen. Warm milk might help.

Frisk couldn't sleep, but they had school tomorrow, they reminded themself. They didn't want to disappoint Toriel by doing poorly, let alone falling asleep in class. But there was only so much they could do when this fit was on them.

  
They didn't want to put more on Toriel's plate.

She had been very busy of late, between hiring two new teachers, and getting clearance from the human government to send fourteen human students to her school. Getting the teachers acquainted with the school hadn't been difficult; They were monsters, after all, and understood in and out the complexity of teaching children: No two are alike, often cannot be taught the same way, et cetera. The human kids, though, had been a lot more work. Toriel had to keep explaining simple things to them; Yes, they could raise their hands at any point during class, no, not all kids are boys or girls, yes, monsters had to be careful eating human food, so ask before sharing snacks. But Toriel had treated them as she did monster children, with patience and understanding.

But the point was, Frisk thought, they didn't want to give her more to worry about. She was already saddled with taking care of _them,_ so the last thing they wanted was to give her trouble at work, too.

Frisk pulled the old step stool over to the cupboard, and climbed on top of it. It wasn't strictly necessary to get a mug from the cupboard, but they wanted their favorite one, the chipped green one with the yellow star on it.

It reminded Frisk of Chara, they thought. Luckily, their head-mate wasn't awake to hear that, or they'd chastise them for being sentimental.

Climbing down from the stool, they placed the mug on the island in the center of the kitchen- a cute little thing made of some type of wood that smelled like strawberries, with an engraving of a snail on the cutting board- and opened the fridge.

They had milk, but Frisk's eyes wandered, as they always did, to the brand-name chocolate bar on the top shelf.

They had never asked Toriel about it, but given how much Chara likes chocolate, they were pretty sure they knew why she still had it, and it made them sad.

When the barrier was broken last year, Frisk had not told anyone about how it happened. Asriel hadn't wanted them to break anyone's hearts over it, and so they hadn't. Chara, hadn't wanted to make their presence known to their foster parents either, so Frisk hadn't told them, either.

But on some nights, when the dark was too dark and the dreams were yet darker, they couldn't help but feel the weight of all their secrets. And with no Chara around to talk to...

Frisk shook their head, clearing the buzzing thoughts for a moment, and closed the fridge, milk jug in their left hand, mug in the other.

The stovetop didn't work, Frisk now remembered. Alphys hadn't finished setting it up for them yet, and Toriel heated everything with fire magic, so it hadn't been an urgent thing. So cold milk would have to do.

Frisk sat on the tallest stool on around the island, staring into their mug of cold milk, eyes unfocused, thoughts swirling in again, unwanted.

Sometimes... Frisk worried about Alphys.

Frisk worried about most of their friends sometimes, but Alphys worrying was... different.

When they had first met her- still coated in sweat from their flight from Undyne, seeking the relief of her laboratory's excellent air conditioning- she had given Frisk a distinct impression; Sharp glasses, sharp mind, the smell of instant noodles and anxiety. They had become her friend, despite Chara's initial suspicion- _* You do recall she has been watching us this entire time, do you not?_.

But hours and hours later, when they had been fishing for an astronaut food bar in waterfall, they had called Undyne on a whim afterwards, and she had told them a cute, but unsettling story.

_That's where Alphys and I met for the first time!! I was looking for cool swords, when I saw her... Uh, standing there, staring into the abyss._

And something about what she said had struck a painful chord, deep within their soul.

_She looked pretty... Um..._

A very familiar chord.

_contemplative._

Frisk knew exactly what it was like to look into an abyss and wonder if you'd be better off down there.

Their fears only increased after the ordeal with the True Laboratory, and everything Alphys had said when they'd found her. The less said about that place, the better.

Frisk knew what Toriel would say if they told her about their worries. They could hear her now: _Frisk, my child. Alphys is an adult, and she can handle herself. It is not your responsibility to worry about her._

But it _was_ Frisk's responsibility. They had a **special power.** And Alphys didn't. Nobody else did.

Nobody.

...

It was a long time before Frisk finished their mug of cold milk, and they still didn't feel very sleepy. The weight of the secrets and the responsibilities was making it harder to breathe. There didn't seem to be enough air.

It was too much.

_Stay determined!_

Frisk curled up, breathing shallow and quick, their little fingers gripping their scalp beneath their mop of brown hair, shaking slightly.

The perfect couldn't last forever. They can't keep going back every time something goes wrong. The wrong things are going wrong too slowly.

But they are The Human. They have a **_special power._**

And for what...?

So they could pick and choose which friends get to be happy? Which ones are easier to fix? Frisk couldn't live that way, it was too cruel. But they couldn't fix everything.

The world was too big outside the underground.

Too big...!

_You are the future of humans and monsters._

_'* Hey.'_

Frisk gave a little jump at the indignant voice within their head.

_'* What are we doing up? And why are you... Oh.'_

Chara's voice melted into deep blue-green sympathy as they registered the thoughts, rushing like dark water through Frisk's mind.

_' * It's okay. Please, Frisk. Stop.'_

Little tears began to form at the edge of Frisk's eyes, as they screwed them shut.

_' * I understand how you feel.'_

Frisk pressed their forehead to the cold wood of the island before them.

_I know you do_ , they thought back.

_That's... That's what they said to you, isn't it?_

_' * Yes, Frisk. But you're not me.'_

_' * I made my choice long ago.'_

-o-o-o-

When Toriel found Frisk asleep in the kitchen next morning, she tried her best not to wake them up while she make pancakes. It was a difficult thing for her to get right with fire magic alone, but she had been inspired recently.

Her poor child had deep bags under their eyes, and she knew sleep had been hard for them recently.

She worried about them.

But at least it was a weekend.

So they could sleep as long as they needed to.

Toriel smiled to herself, and got back to the pancakes.

**Author's Note:**

> I know this is rather short, but it is my first time sharing a writing work of mine in a public forum like this, so... I wanted to give myself some margin for error.  
> Thanks for reading it.
> 
> If you like it, please don't hesitate to let me know... I love Undertale with all my soul but I have been too cowardly to post anything until now.
> 
> Anyway, I've been feeling like Frisk a lot recently, so that's what inspired this piece, I guess.


End file.
